Last year we encountered a problem with Telecom Italia. We had been paying our landline/Alice bill by bank direct debit. Once the problem (no relevance to this post) was resolved, we were given a new landline number and we assumed everything was fine. We returned to the UK for the winter months and briefly checked our Italian online bank account.

Not withstanding the grim looking weather; the National Finals of the Italian Beach Rugby Tournament will take place today and tomorrow at Alba Adriatica - Chalet Il Faro. Both male and female teams will compete in their respective catagories for the titale of Champions of Italy. At the end of play today (Saturday) there will be a fun match in memory of Luca Tullii - ex secretary of L.I.B.R.; the organisers of the national events - who sadly passed away prematurely this year. This match will be between Teramo Rugby and the 'All Bluffs' .

Found this report:
ANSA) - Rome, July 15 - One Italian household in five is
living in poverty, Istat said Friday.

For large families in the poorer south of the country, the
figures rises to one in two, the national statistics agency
said.

More than eight million people, or almost 14% of the Italian
population, are living below the bread line and over three
million, or 5%, are in a state of "absolute poverty", it said.